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>> Tuesday, May 3, 2011

I rub a little butter on it, sprinkle some seasoning, poke some holes and wrap it in foil and place it in the oven. The baked potato will be ready in about 1 ½ hours. When removed from the oven it will melt in your mouth with tenderness. My favorite toppings are taco meat, shredded cheese and sour cream. Delicious.

Or if you are an instant gratification type of person, just wrap it in Saran wrap and pop it in the microwave. In a few minutes you’ll have an eatable potato … but you can never call it a baked one. And there is no way to compare the two.

A few days ago I placed some black beans, some white beans, some seasoning, a cup of chicken broth and chunks of chicken breast in a Crockpot … stirred the mix … and put a lid on it. It simmered all day. The chicken was fall-apart tender and it tasted wonderful.

Or, if you are an instant gratification type, just go to your pantry and choose from the cans of soup you have there. Open the can, pour the contents into a bowl and put it in the microwave. A few minutes later you have hot soup. But there is no way to compare the two soups.

Perhaps your child has the sniffles or a sore throat. If you are an instant gratification type, you immediately make a doctor’s appointment, take them to the doctor and expect the doctor to give you a prescription. The doctors are aware that is what you expect and so they oblige. For most illnesses, it seems to take the same amount of time to get better … with or without the prescription. And the down side of constantly giving them medicine is that their body becomes accustomed to it. They no longer have the natural defense mechanism against the germ.

Credit cards are of a great help when you are an instant gratification type. You see something you want to buy, and you buy it. When that card is maxed out, you can just get another card (although I think maybe it is getting a little harder to get them now). The fact that you can’t pay the card off every month does not seem to be an issue.

Almost ten years ago, a man named Osama Bin Laden masterminded the attacks on September 11, 2001. Politicians and military officials vowed to get him. But time passed. The instant gratification type of people said, “We’ll never get him” and turned their attention elsewhere. But there were those long-term people who hung in there. After almost ten years of searching and planning, the news finally broadcast the words, “Osama Bin Laden is dead.”

Instant gratification type of people is not new. There were people in Jesus’ day who sought instant gratification. As He had ascended into heaven, the people were told He would return. But as the days and weeks passed and He still had not come back, some followers and all the scoffers were saying, “Jesus promised to come back didn’t He? Then where is He?” (2 Peter 3:4 NLT)

They had forgotten that to Jesus, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. Jesus is not being slow in His return. He is being patient … for the sake of the one who has not yet believed.

He is definitely not an instant gratification type.

Are you?

“After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” Acts 1:9-11